by your side + vogue
sumeragi sui
disclaimers: no suing! tokyo babylon doesn't belong to me, unfortunately. sigh CLAMP owns it.
warnings: really weird hokuto-chan bits, a little OOCness for the both of them or, at least, it's OOC in my opinion; i have no idea what you guys think
notes: i notice i tend to ramble too much in these notes, so i'll make it short and sweet. i'm sorry for no updates, i've been sick/exhausted and my brain has been mush. in fact yesterday i had a fever and a headache and i still do today... but i'm writing another chapter anyway. plus i had an oldschool excuse writer's block. seriously! so i'm using one of my friend's suggestions. anyway, sadly, this will be one of the few last relatively happy chapters before the inevitable you-know-what at the end of TB. waiii... that's too sad to write about! but, in my absence my regressing brain did some research and i found a nice little tidbits that will end the whole story. depending on the responses i get from my loyal readers, and the amount of ideas i can force out, you can either expect two more chapters at least or up to five more to end this.
since i haven't written in a while, and rereading the last chapter i didn't like it much, i apologize if this is as bad-written as i think it is.
that wasn't very short and sweet, but anyway, enjoy!
"Hokuto-chan, are you..." Subaru frowned as he entered his twin's bedroom, Seishirou following with an amused smirk on his face.
"What?" She giggled, dancing around. She was wearing... a hot pink bunny costume, complete with ears and mask. Subaru stared at her in astonished disbelief.
"Are you going to wear that when you meet Kakyou today?" Subaru asked, hesitating slightly and sweatdropping. Hokuto laughed and hugged her brother, prancing over to her dresser and taking out a tube of bright pink lipstick.
Seishirou smiled at Hokuto as she smeared the makeup onto her lips. "Kakyou seems like a very nice boy," he commented casually. Hokuto erupted into loud laughter that would have embarrassed Subaru if he hadn't been still staring at Hokuto's bizarre outfit. "Ohohohoho, Sei-chan! You're not my father you know! Although you're almost my brother-in-law..." Hokuto and Seishirou snickered simultaneously, leaving Subaru's face to flush gradually five different shades of red.
"Ohohohoho! But, if I don't hurry up, I'll be late!" She finished applying the lipstick, brandishing her fingers in a peace sign. "Subaru, remember to play nice to Sei-chan!" She smiled to herself as Subaru blushed deeper. "And Sei-chan," she began, looking contemplative, "remember to use these opportunities well!" She laughed as Subaru's face turned horribly crimson, and Seishirou put his arm around him, making him redden further. Flashing Hokuto an apologetic smile, Seishirou led Subaru out as Hokuto did her final preparations.
"Today... we're going shopping!" she chirped quietly to herself, giggling.
Kakyou sighed as he waited for Hokuto to arrive. Hokuto said she had a wonderful surprise today; in slight curiosity, Kakyou wondered what it was. A gift from the real world, perhaps? Something odd? His mind raced through millions of absurd and insane, and, he admitted, very Hokuto-chan ideas. As he wondered if Hokuto had done something weird like baked him cookies or something, said cookie-baker popped up in his dreamscape resembling a shocking pink bunny rabbit.
As he gaped at her, she waved a medium-sized purse the same shade of her getup, grinning and hugging Kakyou upon noticing him.
Caught off guard, Kakyou managed to stammer, "H-Hokuto-chan!" Hokuto giggled as she gave him a light kiss on the cheek, causing him to blush subtly.
"You're too much like my brother!" she declared, and then handed Kakyou a train ticket. Staring at it, dumbfounded, Kakyou gave her a questioning look and raised his thin eyebrow slightly.
Holding the ticket in his hand, he looked at it, frowning dazedly. "What's... this for?"
Grinning, Hokuto explained in a cheerful voice, "Although it's completely unnecessary since you can just change the scene of the dreamscape..." she paused, her face bewildered at herself as if to say "why didn't I think of that?" Then she smiled sheepishly and continued, "We're going to go to a mall in Tokyo... to give you a whole new wardrobe!"
Kakyou's eyes widened in alarm. He had seen what Hokuto had dressed up her brother in; insane, brightly colored outfits that made it hard to be unnoticeable. He almost had to control himself from passing out because of this new turn in events. He liked Hokuto a lot, of course; some may even say it was love. But to wear such wild outfits...
Oh well. Shrugging to himself, he reasoned, It's not like anyone can see me in the real world anyway.
On the completely unnecessary train, Hokuto forced Kakyou to take part in discussions about completely spontaneous topics, such as whether apples or oranges were better. Kakyou would grin sheepishly as Hokuto looked at him in a playfully reproachful way when he politely refused to say either; he preferred strawberries himself.
"WAIIIII, Kakyou! Oranges are so much better!" she declared, glaring at him jokingly. Kakyou laughed softly as Hokuto pranced around the train in her bright pink outfit, scaring most of the other passengers as they tried to move subtly away from her. She pouted at them as she was forced to return to her seat by a slightly embarrassed trainman A/N: not sure of the correct term for this who assured her it was only for her-- and the other passengers'-- safety.
Sulkily, she complained, "I'm just trying to have some fun..." She announced immediately that she was bored again, and Kakyou grinned.
"You're bored with me as your company?" he asked absentmindedly as he skimmed through a book Hokuto had gave him. It was a manga about the end of the world; a girl had to choose between saving all humanity from destruction or rejuvenating the paining earth. Somehow, it seemed vaguely familiar to Kakyou, and he had a rather eerily ominous feeling about it, although he didn't voice it. Still, he didn't think of it... much...
Hokuto shook her head fiercely. "Of course not!" She smiled fondly at him. "Do you like the book? You can have it, if you want." Kakyou had begun to read it properly, ignoring her unintentionally. Rummaging through her purse for a few minutes, she took out a small camera. Surprised, Kakyou didn't have time to shield himself before she took a snapshot, taking advantage of his unawareness. She began to giggle immediately, and smiled to herself. "Now I can carry a picture of this pretty pretty boy always with me!" Kakyou immediately turned scarlet as Hokuto laughed. "Ohohohohoho!"
Nervously, Kakyou nudged Hokuto, who was still laughing and caressing her camera affectionately, whispering, "Uh, Hokuto-chan... our stop will be coming soon... you should get ready." Hokuto nodded firmly.
Once they had stopped, Hokuto took Kakyou by the hand and pulled him up abruptly, starting to run. Kakyou managed to keep up with Hokuto... sort of. She was dashing at high speed. "Where's the fire?" Kakyou asked teasingly as he struggled to run at Hokuto's fast, gradually speeding up her pace. She exited the train station; they ran quickly on the streets, and entered a huge, slightly crowded mall; they sprinted around in there, too...
Suddenly, they stopped in front of a large clothing store. "...Eh?" Kakyou said, bewildered. Hokuto bent down and used her knee for support, breathing heavily as she pointed to it.
"Your new wardrobe is in there," she panted, catching her breath and straightening herself up. Then she bore her usual cheerful smile and giggled. "I'm so stupid! I brought money from the real world... I wonder if they even take it in places like this... oh well, you can just materialize money, since it's your dreamscape, right?" Hokuto asked, looking up at Kakyou, who gave a start at being spoken to.
"Wh-what? Oh, yeah..." Hokuto grinned and pulled him into the store, where several people stared at their entrance; a pink bunny and a teenage boy had just entered... although in theory Kakyou wasn't really very young. Hokuto ignored the gazes and looks of the other shoppers, pointing to a rack of rather unusual clothes.
Repeating what Kakyou already knew (and slightly feared), Hokuto chirped, "I like to dress up my brother too. But I'm sure that once I'm done, you'll be even cuter than him!" Brusquely she handed Kakyou a few items; an intensely purplish red jacket, a saffron turtleneck, dawn-tinted jeans, lavender socks, and red sneakers. Eyes widening at the ridiculous selections Hokuto had made for him, he nonetheless obediently began to walk towards the dressing rooms, Hokuto still looking at the clothes, humming as she picked out even more garments for Kakyou to try on.
Other customers stared at him once he emerged from the dressing room, decked out in the laughable outfit Hokuto had picked out for him. Blushing, he walked towards her and nudged her on the shoulder. Hokuto turned around cheerfully with another couple of outfits in her arms and squealed in delight. "Kakyou-kun, you look adorable!" she exclaimed excitedly. After a momentary pause, she instantly suggested he try on the other clothes she picked, and shoved four or five brilliantly colored ensembles unexpectedly into his arms, causing him to slightly lose balance. Blushing and complying, he modeled each set of clothes one by one, Hokuto's voice escalating a few notes each time as she shrieked in jubilation, embarrassing and reddening Kakyou more with every outfit.
By the sixth one, Kakyou had grown a bit tired, but Hokuto didn't seem to want to stop. Sighing as Hokuto was about to hand him another pile of clothing, he raised his hand, motioning her to stop. "Eh, Hokuto-chan, I'm getting hungry. Why don't we stop for now and just buy these and maybe come back later or something?" he suggested cautiously, unsure of Hokuto's reaction.
Whimpering and faking sobs, she nodded, rubbing her eyes in a false cry. Then she immediately recovered and bounced to indicate her restoration, and agreed cheerily, "Okay!"
They found themselves a few minutes later at a McDonald's. Kakyou stared at the fast food restaurant for a few minutes doubtfully, but Hokuto said, "You've never been to one before, have you? They're not very healthy, but you have to try their greasy food at least once!" Still continuing to scrutinize the place rather skeptically, Kakyou nonetheless sighed and agreed, Hokuto abruptly taking his arm and frog-marching in.
Scanning the menu on the overhead, she asked inattentively, "What do you want, Kakyou-kun?" Bewildered, Kakyou browsed the menu too, unsure of what exactly those things were.
"They're hamburgers, silly!" Hokuto commented as if she had read his mind. Faintly surprised, Kakyou asked Hokuto uncertainly, "Are the... chicken nuggets good?"
Smirking, Hokuto suddenly broke into loud laughter. "Ohohohoho! But, I should warn you, they just smash together skinned chicken with the bones until they get something mushy enough that you can't recognize," she bantered, seeming evilly satisfied at Kakyou's horrified look.
"No thanks, then," he muttered, taking out the book that Hokuto had gave him earlier. "Hokuto-chan, why don't you order for me then, and I'll find us a place to sit?" Smiling comfortably, Hokuto agreed, turning back to the menu. Clutching the book, Kakyou searched the area for a vacant spot, and promptly sat down, opening the book up.
The manga, he found, was fairly interesting. An apocalyptic tale about the end of the world... it was really quite fascinating, Kakyou thought, as he turned to the page he had left off.
Destiny... Do you believe in it, Megami? A predetermined future... or is it just lies?
Engrossed in the volume, he almost didn't realize Hokuto had returned with the food and drinks. "Here, Kakyou-kun! I got us both double cheeseburgers, they're about the only things I can stand to eat at places like these!" she said, handing him his meal. He nodded, preoccupied with the text, but he did chew on some french fries as he read.
Hokuto frowned crossly, making a long face. "Eh, Kakyou, I didn't take you out or give you that book so you could ignore me!"
Blushing, Kakyou took a napkin and placed it in the book as a placeholder, apologizing meekly. "I'm sorry, Hokuto-chan... this story is just very interesting..."
Hokuto beamed forgivingly, and warmly fed him a french fry, giggling. "I didn't even began to read the book, it didn't seem to interest me much. But if you like it..." Smiling kindly, she sighed, and Kakyou teasingly petted her head as if she were a cat.
"I'll stop reading, it's rude to Hokuto-chan!" Kakyou said suddenly, punching his fist into the air triumphantly, and, rather uncharacteristically.
Laughing again, Hokuto exclaimed, "OHOHOHOHOHO! Kakyou-kun is so adorable." Kakyou's face flushed, and he chose to start eating the food to avoid Hokuto's giggling at his extremely crimson face. But, as usual, she exploded in deafening, joshing snickers. "So adorable," she repeated dreamily, stroking Kakyou's hair in return. His face turned a deeper red, but he attempted to ignore Hokuto's antics, no longer eating.
"Wai, eat, you fool!" Hokuto said suddenly in a reprimanding voice. "Don't be like my brother and starve yourself for no reason!" She forced another fry into his mouth, and he coughed but dutifully ate it.
"I wonder how Hokuto-chan is doing," Subaru said somewhat worriedly. In the real world, it was growing quite late, but Seishirou laughed.
Putting his arm around Subaru reassuringly and making his face turn cherry-colored, Seishirou said simply, "You worry too much, Subaru-kun. I'm sure she's fine." He patted his tresses a bit patronizingly but also rather romantically. Subaru's face started to glow red.
"S-Seishirou-san!"
Smirking in a rather twisted way, Seishirou annunciated, "I'm sure she's fine."
"Are we going to shop for more clothes?" Kakyou asked almost anxiously, not wanting to endure another morning like the one he had just experienced a few hours ago.
Sipping her soda contently, Hokuto's lips curled into a playful smile. "It really depends. Would you like to?" she asked offhandedly. "What else do you think we can do in a mall like this?" Kakyou looked disconcerted; he had never been in a mall before, and he was vague about where else they could go. Sensing his bewilderment, Hokuto propped her elbow on his shoulder encouragingly and commented simply, "We could just go home, you know..."
Kakyou frowned, and stammered suddenly, "N-no...!" Hokuto looked at him curiously, tilting her head to one side in wonder. "Uh, Hokuto-chan, can we go to a bookstore?" he suggested self-consciously. Laughing lightly, she replied, "Of course! I'm not too interested in formal literature, but the bookstore they have here also sells manga! Maybe I can get another copy of the book I gave you and actually read it myself!" Kakyou smiled and they made their way towards the bookstore.
Giggling at herself, Hokuto asked, "What was the name of the book I gave you anyway? I forgot." Sniggering at her, Kakyou proceeded to one of the areas in the store and handed her a book.
"Sadame? That's the name of the book? They called the book 'Destiny'?" Hokuto asked, seeming a bit amused.
Kakyou frowned quizzically, confused, and gave her a questioning look. "How is that entertaining?" he asked incredulously, looking dubious.
Grinning widely at him, Hokuto answered, "There's an exchange student at school from America named Destiny. She's really..." Hokuto trailed off, laughing. Kakyou smiled, nodding sheepishly. "Oh," was all he could come up with, and he went back to the section he had gotten the book from and retrieved a copy for himself. Turning the page, he began to read.
"The next stop's ours, Hokuto-chan... wake up," Kakyou whispered, lightly poking Hokuto to stir her awake. They were on the train again, but this time for the return trip. Hokuto had been sleeping on Kakyou's shoulder, and she was roused suddenly.
"What time is it?" she asked drowsily.
"About ten thirty... here. In your world... it's nearing the new day," he reported, helping Hokuto regain her posture.
Hokuto smiled. "I should get going then. Subaru must be worried about me... he worries too much..." Sighing, she gave Kakyou a light hug, and he accepted her embrace almost sadly. The day was nearing... the day that Hokuto-chan would...
"I'll see you soon!" she proposed as she got off the train.
Waving weakly goodbye to her, Kakyou sighed and stared at the Sadame books he had bought, and the one Hokuto had gave him.
Destiny...